Germany and France criticize Israeli minister’s comments on hunger in Gaza

Germany and France condemned statements by the Israeli Finance Minister on Wednesday Bezalel Smotrich in which he deplored aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and described the famine as morally justified.

“These are completely unacceptable and outrageous statements from the Israeli Finance Minister. We reject them in the strongest possible terms,” ​​said a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Berlin.

“It is an imperative of humanity and a basic principle of international humanitarian law that civilians are protected in war and have access to water and food,” the spokesperson added.

According to Israeli media reports, Smotrich recently said it would be “justified and moral” to block aid supplies to Gaza until all hostages captured in the October 7 attacks are released.

Smotrich said such a blockade would be justified even if it entailed the starvation of “2 million civilians” in Gaza, but argued that the international community would not allow such a measure, the Times of Israel reported.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the Israeli government to “strongly condemn these unacceptable statements”.

“France emphasizes that the provision of humanitarian aid to 2 million civilians in a situation of absolute emergency, in an area under blockade where access points are controlled by Israel, is an obligation under international humanitarian law, as recalled by the International Court of Justice”, said the statement. statement said.

The German Foreign Ministry spokesman also said the comments would be “very closely followed” by international human rights courts in The Hague, where Israel has faced accusations of genocide.

In May, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, said he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.